Air Stamp of SarabiaItem brings Protests in Mexico and High Price In
Sales Here

By Kent B. Styles
New York Times
May 28, 1939

The most
discussed stamp of the past week is Mexicos 20
centavos item which was used to prepay postage on mail
carried by Francisco Sarabia, Mexicos ace civilian
pilot, on his flight from Mexico City to New York on
Wednesday as part of the ceremonies opening his
countrys exhibit at the Worlds Fair. In
Mexico its issuance engendered controversy and bitterness
because the postal authorities limited the supply to
2,100 copies, did not put the stamp on sale at
postoffices generally and presented nearly half of the
stock to Sarabia to sell at any prices he elected. In New
York, some leading dealers in air-mail paper refused to
handle the item, but one department stores stamp
section succeeded in getting hold of nearly a hundred
copies from various sources and sold most of them to
eager collectors at $29.50 apiece prior to the flight.

The stamp is in
the design of Mexicos recent 20c green air-mail
adhesive commemorating participation in the Worlds
Fair. The newcomer, however, is blue and red, and in the
upper right corner is "Sarabia Vuelo Mexico-Nueva
York" in scarlet. This inscription was engraved and
accordingly is not an overprint of a kind readily to be
forged. The stamp was authorized by the Mexican
Government, and the covers carried by Sarabia were duly
canceled at the Mexico City postoffice. In view of the
circumstances under which the stamp was issued and sold,
however, the publishers of the Standard Postage Stamp
Catalogue have reserved decision as to whether they will
"recognize" it for chronicling the 1940
edition.

Helped
Finance Flight

According to
the Mexican Philatelic Association, the stamp was issued
at the request of Sarabia to commemorate his flight. He
had asked that 1,200 copies be prepared and that 1,000 of
these be turned over to him, but President Cardenas of
Mexico decided on 2,100. Sarabia received 1,000 mint
copies and was reported to have sold all but fifty-three
in Mexico for $100 each, thus helping to finance his
good-will flight in the plane El Conquistador de Cielo
(The Conqueror of the Sky). The Mexican Government
reserved 400 copies for the Universal Postal Union at
Berne, Switzerland, in the customary manner. Of the
remaining 700 copies 300 were sent to Mexicos
Philatelic Agency for sales at a price yet to be
determined, and the public was permitted to purchase 400
through the Mexican National Lottery, and these were used
by the purchasers on the covers carried by Sarabia.

In an interview
after his arrival in New York, Sarabia denied he had sold
most of his 1,000 mint copies in Mexico for $100 each. He
said he had sold 200 at prices ranging between $30 and
$40 apiece and planned to dispose of the others at about
the same prices.

Sarabias
load of mail comprised 400 covers mailed at the Mexico
City postoffice. These were back-stamped at the New York
postoffice and sent to their destinations in the United
States. Some of the covers were registered and bore forty
centavos worth of postage in addition to the 20c
commemorative. Each cover carried a cachet applied at the
Mexico City postoffice and illustrating a Mexican
Government building and New Yorks Statue of
Liberty.

A Block
for Roosevelt

A block of four
of the commemoratives will be presented by Sarabia to
President Roosevelt for the latters collection. The
block is affixed to an autographed scroll on which is
inscribed: "With the sincerest admiration for you as
a noted statesman who has rendered distinguished service
in the present era, I have the honor of dedicating to you
this souvenir of my good-will flight from Mexico City to
New York."

A
cartoon taken from a United States newspaper depicting
Francisco "Pancho" Sarabia of Mexico, late
1930s. On May 25, 1939 Sarabia flew from Mexico City to
New York City in record time. He carried goodwill letters
from the Mexican government to the Francisco
"Pancho" Sarabia of Mexico government. On June
7, 1939, on his return trip, he crashed into the Potomac
River and was killed.

FLIER
SETS RECORD FROM MEXICO CITY
Sarabia Makes 2,350-Mile Hop to New York in 10 Hours and
48 Minutes

New
York Times
May 25, 1939

FUEL
ALMOST EXHAUSTED

Only
Gallon Left as He Lands at Floyd Bennett Field in First
Success of Plane

Racing against
two added starters-darkness and a fast disappearing fuel
supply-in an attempt to set a new non-stop record between
Mexico City and New York, Francisco Sarabia, foremost
Mexican aviator, was a complete winner when he set his
stubby racing plane down at Floyd Bennett Field at 6:40
P.M. yesterday to establish a new time record of 10 hours
and 48 minutes for the 2,350-mile hop.

The margin of
victory over the old record of 14 hours and 19 minutes,
set on May 8, 1935, by the late Amelia Earhart, was
ample, but the margin over the fuel supply was exactly
one gallon and darkness was not very far away.

The finish was
perhaps as dramatic as any ever witnessed at the Brooklyn
airport. Many friends and relatives and countrymen of the
flier as well as several hundred other persons had been
waiting at the field for some time.

Most of them
realized that when Mr. Sarabia lifted his Gee Bee
special, named both Q.E.D. and Conquistador del Cielo,
from the airport at Mexico City at 7:52 A.M. (D.S.T.)
yesterday morning he had just enough fuel for eleven
hours of flying. They realized, too, that the plane which
was built in Springfield, Mass., by the Granville
Brothers Company, for racing purposes, had yet to give
meaning to its original name-Q.E.D. (quod erat
demonstrandum, which was to be demonstrated, the
mathematical symbol to indicate that a given problem had
been solved.)

It had been
entered in the MacRobertson Race from London to
Melbourne, and had been forced down without finishing. It
had been entered in the Bendix transcontinental race
twice and had not finished in any. Although it had never
crashed, it had usually developed some minor trouble and
been forced to drop out of the competition.

Mrs. Sarabia
and three of her children, Maria, 11 years old; Francisco
Jr., 10, and Beatrice, 9, four of the fliers
sisters-in-law and one sister; the Mexican Ambassador,
Dr. Francisco Castillo Najera; the consul general, Rafael
De La Colina and several score Mexicans who waited knew
all those things.

At first there
was a report that the craft had been sighted over
Virginia, no definite spot being given. As time passed
and no other word was received most of the compatriots of
the flier and the several hundred other persons at the
field did rapid mental calculations.

Shortly before
6:40 P.M. several reporters went to Mrs. Sarabia and her
sisters, seated in an automobile on the apron of the
airport, to tell her that the craft had been forced down,
safely, near Atlanta, Ga. As the reporters told Mrs.
Sarabia she listened attentively, but without change of
facial expression, thanked them and turned to her
sisters.

Thirty seconds
later there was the whine and then the roar as the plane
shot over the finish line. It had sneaked in without
being seen.

The plane came
in with the wind, circled the field and started to land.
Aviators and seasoned aviation observers held their
breath as the plane came down with the wind on its tail,
a dangerous manoeuvre. But the craft settled to the
ground without a bounce.

He climbed from
he cockpit and greeted his family and friends.

"Im
very glad to be here," he said. "It was one of
the toughest flights Ive ever made. I had headwinds
of about fifty miles an hour all the way and I went
through two thunderstorms. I flew at about 16,000
feet."

The plane,
which is powered by a 650-Horsepower Pratt & Whitney
Hornet, took off from Mexico with 525 gallons of gasoline
an about thirty-five gallons of oil, he said, and because
of headwinds he had used more fuel than he anticipated.

Mr. Sarabia was
taken from the airport to the Hotel Lexington with a
police escort.

He carried
letters to President Roosevelt, to Mayor La Guardia and
Grover A. Whalen. He will take part in the dedication of
the Mexican Pavilion at the Worlds Fair.